The Fairy
by Kisekikui
Summary: This one shot speaks of times when Renji encounters a human butterfly. A fairy. RenjixOC


**August 14****th****, Afternoon**

"Abarai Renji!"

She shouted my name from over the eleventh division training building. Her odd, orange eyes reflected her smile, a beautiful compliment to her green, plentiful hair. After a second of my staring, she frowned and held out her hand.

"The ribbon."

I looked down at the object in my hand. It had been lying around somewhere, and I had planned to throw it away at first chance. A black ribbon. From what she said, it was hers.

"Well," She jumped down, landing before me. "Aren't you going to give it to me?"

I just continued to stare dumbly before handing it over.

She took it and smiled, placing the hand with the ribbon on her hip and bending over slightly, cocking her head to one side. "Thank you."

I watched her turn and walk away about five feet before I ran up behind her. She sensed me coming and turned right as I stopped. We stared at each other for a while before she smiled, closing her eyes and poking me.

"Wanna know my name, huh?"

I straightened my position, just realizing that I hadn't said anything. "What's your name?"

"That's a secret."

"Huh?"

"'Haaah'? Don't 'Haah' me. It's. A. Secret."

"Just who do you think I am?" I said, enraged by her attitude.

"A seated officer," she answered arrogantly. "And I'm below you."

That made me more aggravated. "You—"

"Fine, fine," she closed her eyes. "I'll tell you." She looked at the ground, tapped her chin, looked up, and then looked back at me, smiling again. "I'm a fairy."

"What?"

"Look at my hair," she sang. "It's special."

My eyebrow twitched. "What's your name?"

"I told you, I told you. I'm a fairy." She turned and ran off. "Bye!"

I stared at her until she turned a corner then glanced down, noticing a string of color on the ground. The ribbon she had asked for was lying on the ground in front of me.

-

**August 20****th****, Night**

It took four days, but I found her name. Minamoto Zakuro. She belonged to the fourth division, and worked everywhere possible. People would describe her as energetic, lovely, _fine_, happy-go-lucky, nice, loud, tall, the list goes on. No one I found could say a bad thing about her. Though there were some common things mentioned.

"_She's the only Fourth Division member who's worth squat."­_

"_She's a very nice girl." _

"_She's horrible at cooking."_

"_She's pretty."_

"_She's like a human butterfly."_

That was from Captain Unohana. It didn't make much sense to me.

And look at this. Whenever I asked someone where I could find her, I got the same answer. Even from Captain Unohana.

"_You can't."_ Then they'd smile, or smirk, or whatever. _"She's a fairy."_

--

**August 25****th****, Afternoon**

I caught a glimpse of her leading a huge portion of Eleventh Division members on a rampage to the training hall. I followed, but she disappeared.

---

**August 28****th****, Morning**

It was a day with no work, and I was sitting in a plain kimono, just staring at the sky. I was bored and fanning myself with a paper fan for no reason. I was considering giving up looking for Minamoto Zakuro. Then suddenly, she appeared. Right in front of me, she just appeared there. She probably had been standing there for a while since she was staring at me almost impatiently.

"Abarai Renji."

I smirked. "Minamoto Zakuro."

"Stand up please."

"Why should I?"

"Because I asked you to."

"Who the hell says I have to do what you say?"

"Me. I requested for you to do something, and, assuming you aren't the animal your eyebrows make you look like, you'll comply."

"Leave me alone." I tilted my head back lazily, lying down.

"Oh? The Abarai Renji who's been looking for the Gotei 13's fairy for about two weeks is telling her to leave him alone?"

"Ye—" I jerked my head up, realizing the truth of her words.

She turned and ran.

When I stood up to follow her, I couldn't find a trace of her anywhere.

----

**August 30****th****, Lunch time**

Today I saw her working in Seireitei's café. She was wearing some sort of modest maid costume with her hair tied up in a style that made it look like a bow. No one else that was working there had on anything similar, but she strangely didn't draw anyone's attention. Only mine.

When she approached my table to take my order, she turned around so I could see her back. It took me a while to see it, but on the area around her shoulder blades, there were tiny wings. They looked like wings from a kiddy anime, but somehow…they fit her.

After turning around and smiling at me, she simply walked away, disappearing behind a door. Another waitress walked to my table immediately.

"May I take your order?" She said, holding up a notepad.

"Yeah…" I took my eyes from the door to look at her. "Tea."

The waitress scribbled it down. "Anything else?"

"No. But can you tell me something?"

"Sure."

"You don't know where that girl in the maid costume went, do you?"

"No, sorry. But I heard her say something about going to the hospital."

I nodded. "Thanks."

The waitress bowed. "I'll get you your tea right away."

"Wait," I stood up. "Nevermind."

---

**August 30****th****, Later in the Afternoon**

"Happi baasude tu yuu, happi baasude tu yuu…"

I could hear chanting in horrible English coming from the room I was standing next to. It was a shared room for injured people to rest and talk if they needed to. It was never quiet in there, but this wasn't something you would normally hear. And at the top of the voices, leading the deep ones, was her strong but light voice.

I opened the door to find everyone in the room circled around this one guy that was grinning like a monkey. Minamoto had her back to me, and she was standing with her hands on her hips, leaning forward slightly. I closed the door, glad that no one noticed me, and walked to the edge of the crowd, making sure I was in her range of sight.

When the singing stopped, the guy in the center rubbed the back of his head bashfully, looking down. He was relatively young, probably reaching around thirty if he were living.

"Thanks," he said, looking up at Minamoto with a small box in his lap.

"Don't mention it!" She gave him a hard slap on the shoulder. "It's your birthday, you deserve a song."

"But thanks. That's the first time I got a song for my birthday…" He looked down again, his hand still on his head.

"That's because you've never had our fairy." Another one spoke up. "She sings for everyone."

"Yeah," Someone else said. "But hey, tell us your birthday Miss 'Fairy'."

There was a round of nods and repetition of the question from the crowd.

"I told you, I told you," Minamoto said. "It's that day in those leap years."

"February 29th?"

"Yup. I'm four times as young as you geezers."

Again, the whole crowd spoke up, all saying something along the lines of 'Don't be mean'.

Minamoto stuck her tongue out at them and turned. "Bye!"

Everyone waved without saying a word. I followed her, ignoring the 'Hey, wasn't that Abarai?' that came from nearly everyone's mouths.

I followed her through the hall, down the stairs, outside, and a couple feet more. Then she turned to face me.

"I can't be caged." She said, a happy but serious look on her face. "So stop trying to catch me."

With that, she walked directly to the left.

This time, I let her go, just watching her leave.

--

**August 31****st****, Near Midnight**

I was walking aimlessly around Seireitei, feeling strange. 'I forgot something about today', I kept thinking. Zabimaru only laughed at me from inside my mind. I half-hoped that Matsumoto would come and trick me into drinking with her again, but the other half of me hoped she wouldn't. If she did, she'd make me pay, and I was broke at the moment.

Suddenly, something jumped at me and clung to my back. The thing either had no spirit energy or hid it really well, because I couldn't tell what it was, except for the fact that it was female, for obvious reasons. That made it at least human.

She placed her cheek against mine, green bangs appearing in my line of vision. For a moment, she was just breathing, clinging closer to me. Then she smiled, and I remembered what I had forgotten.

"Happi bassude tu yuu, happi baasude tu yuu…"

Minamoto continued singing softly in her flawed English, clinging tightly to my back. I couldn't help it, light pink found its way to my face and I blushed. At the end of her song, she giggled, noticing it.

"What do you say?" She asked expectantly in that light voice.

"Th-Thank you." I said the end slightly louder, ashamed that I stuttered.

"Tell me, what does Abarai Renji want for his birthday? Hmm?"

I kept silent, considering it, thinking of something, and then mentally scolding myself for considering it at all. There's no way she could get me _that_.

"Oh no," She said, frowning. "I can't get you that right away. But I'll have it to you by morning, 'kay?"

"…Okay."

I nearly couldn't believe myself for answering. She obviously couldn't know what I wanted for my birthday—I never told anyone. No one but myself.

"Okay then," She turned her head and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. "There's my promise that I'll give it to you by morning. Don't forget it."

Minamoto dropped from my back onto the ground, landing in a sitting position. I turned to her, still shamefully blushing, barely able to see her in the dark. She was fixing a glow in the dark hairpin in the shape of wings that rested in her hair. After doing that, she stood, and then ran past me. I didn't bother to turn around and watch her.

-

**September 1****st****, Morning**

I woke up today, sat up, and looked at the small thing resting in my lap. It was a red wrapped gift box smaller than my hand. I opened it. In there was a thin black watch, the type of watch that I could wear with my uniform without it being noticed. Below it, there was a small note:

'_Fairies exist to grant wishes of the good._

_Fairies exist to purify the souls of the bad._

_Fairies exist to please the people around them._

_Look, a fairy gave you something, aren't you glad?'_

Somehow, it made me feel special to get it.

--

**September 19****th****, Afternoon**

I just found out that Ayasegawa Yumichika got a small gift box wrapped in red and yellow. Inside were a comb and an identical note to the one I got. When he got it, he smiled. I frowned, called him a pretty boy, and walked away, ignoring the countless insults he threw at me from behind.

---

**September 20****th****, Late Afternoon but not Evening**

I spotted Minamoto walking around our division building. She was whistling something familiar, but I couldn't name it. I knew the tune and could probably join her in whistling it, but I thought it would be too strange to do in public.

Right after I thought that, some guys from my division walked past me, whispering among themselves, 'what's that tune?' and 'I've heard that somewhere'. One of them ran to catch up to her and began whistling too—you could hear him. The others followed and did the same. I thought I should too, but the whistling stopped after a minute, and I could hear rapid footsteps. I thought she left.

She really just ran around in a complete circle back to where I was.

"Abarai Renji." She said, holding a scroll in one hand.

"Minamoto Zakuro."

"You're wearing it."

"What—Oh, this." I held up my wrist, showing her the watch. "Thanks."

"No problem." She sang, turning around and crossing her arms.

"…How did you know?"

From where I was standing, I could see her smile. "I told you, I told you. I'm a fairy."

----

**September 23****rd****, All Day**

I asked around what Matsumoto wanted for her birthday. I knew it was coming up, and I knew she would be getting something from the Gotei 13's little 'fairy'. Everyone guessed 'sake' or 'a whole new wardrobe' or 'a man that she actually likes'. None of them seemed to know, so I just decided to wait and see.

---

**September 29****th****, Nighttime**

I was at a bar in Seireitei, dragged there by Matsumoto. I hadn't asked her what she got from Minamoto, but I didn't need to.

"You know, Renji, I got something special for my birthday."

"What was it?"

"You know that promising little kid with white hair?"

She was talking about Hitsugaya Toushiro. "I've heard of him."

"I just found out today that they're planning to make him Captain of my division."

"Why's that special?"

"I dunno." She sipped her drink. "It just feels special."

"When's it gonna happen?"

"A special time."

"Why are they making him a Captain?"

"Because he's special."

"…Who told you?"

I expected her to answer 'a special person'. Instead, she fished into her pocket and pulled out a folded note, smiling.

"The fairy."

--

**December 15****th****, Afternoon**

A time passed by and I saw Minamoto nearly everywhere. She accused me of stalking her, I said it must've been fate or something, she said that was a horrible pick-up line. I didn't mean it like that.

I saw her again, five days away from someone's birthday. She was sitting on top of our division's building, staring intently at the sky.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, sitting next to her.

She grabbed my hand and held it, looking into my eyes but saying nothing.

I stared, confused.

"Abarai Renji."

"…Yes?"

"Let me borrow you for a while."

Without waiting for my approval, she stood up, twisted around, and sat in my lap. Then she rested her head against my chest and closed her eyes. She didn't let go of my hand, causing me to look like I had my arm around her. When I tried to move it, she only held it tighter, frowning.

For a while, I sat there, trying to think of ways to get her off and not noticing the pink that appeared on her cheeks. After a while, her breathing became even and she fell asleep. At that point I gave up trying to get her off of my lap and just sat there, staring at the sky like she had been doing. It was cold, and the sky looked bright and blinding. Something hit my eye.

It was snowing.

-

**December 20****th****, Night**

Hitsugaya Toushiro and Minamoto Zakuro were standing in the snow across from each other. After around six hours of falling non-stop, it had gathered to a height of around a foot in the American Standard measuring system. They stood, sinking in it, Hitsugaya frowning and Minamoto smiling. I was a couple of feet away around a corner.

"Tell me how it works." Hitsugaya said with authority he didn't yet have.

"Don't you already know?"

"I want you to confirm what I think."

"Tell me what you think."

Hitsugaya waited a second before speaking. "You are in the Fourth Division because your zanpakuto isn't fit for fighting in the slightest bit. It's the type that can read minds."

"Go on."

"You use it to somehow figure out what certain people want, which people need what where, which person thinks what, and so on. And you use that to direct your days. For example, how many people in Soul Society share my birthday?"

Minamoto waited a second before answering. "Two."

"So I'm right."

I didn't hear anything, so Minamoto either nodded or shook her head.

"Then tell me, what do I want for my birthday?"

I peeked from around the corner. It was easy to see Minamoto's face from the distance. She closed her eyes.

"Tell me, what does Hitsugaya Toushiro want for his birthday?"

Both stayed silent until Minamoto opened her eyes again.

"You wanna know something, Hitsugaya-san?"

"Tell me."

"The people above us are planning on making you a Captain soon."

Hitsugaya widened his eyes, surprised. He was speechless.

"And what you truly want is recognition and respect. You want people to respect you and for them to stop looking at you like you're a child, and recognize you as a fellow shinigami."

He looked down. "…Thank you."

--

**December 25****th****, Nighttime**

Today, Minamoto set off red and green fireworks. They looked great and could be seen from all of Seireitei, and maybe some people in Rukongai could see them too. I heard she burned herself.

---

**December 31****st**** to January 1****st****, Night**

Minamoto planned to set off fireworks again today, but after what happened on the 25th, nobody wanted her to get hurt again, so a bunch of people from all divisions came to help. I was one of them. Rukia, Hinamori, Kira, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Captain Kenpachi, and a whole lot of other people I recognized were there. When she saw me, she smiled and waved me over to come and help her with the countdown.

Each set of fireworks had to be lit at the exact same time, some after others. She had the whole thing memorized and planned before, and I think she knew people would volunteer to help her. Most of them had to stand and watch, but they were happy being that close.

"You over there!" She pointed to a set of shinigami to her left. "Five, four,"

I joined in. "Three, two,"

"Light them!"

They did as she said, and the long ropes of the fireworks began to burn off. She did the same with another group, then another, then another until she reached the last one and stood back. Her timing was perfect. All of them shot up at the same time, all exploding with each other. It was amazing.

The light from the fireworks above made everything below dark. It was so dark I didn't see Minamoto come up to me as everyone chanted the countdown to the New Year. I sat down, still staring at the fireworks, not caring to count with everyone. Minamoto kneeled down in front of me, put her hands on my shoulders, and kissed me right as everyone around us shouted, 'Happy New Year!'

----

**February 14****th****, Afternoon**

After New Years, I didn't see Minamoto for a long time. She almost literally avoided me. The only times I saw her was when we met by coincidence. At those times, I'd blush shamefully and turn away, and she'd disappear. People didn't seem to know about it, but I heard that she still did nice things for everyone around her, so she didn't just go into hiding. She was just avoiding me. That's why I was surprised when she appeared before me on another one of my days off.

"Abarai Renji." she said like she normally would.

I nodded, looking away, not changing my lax sitting position.

"Look at me."

"…Why?"

"Just look."

I didn't and wondered why she had to do that. Obviously what she did on New Years didn't affect her at all. That annoyed me.

"Fairies aren't things that should be ignored."

'_Why does she have to call herself that?'_ I thought, still not looking at her. _'Fairies don't exist. She has a name. She should use it!'_

"Abarai Ren—"

"Will you stop?!" I turned to her, angry. "Stop calling yourself that!"

She stepped back, looking hurt. "Why should I?"

"Because you're not! Fairies don't exist!"

I didn't mean to yell like that. My frustration just…erupted.

"Y-Yes they do! I'm one of them."

"No you're not! Stop pretending your some fake thing just because your zanpakuto lets you act like it!"

"My zanpakuto…" She brought her hand to her waist, touching the handle of a small dagger. "You know about it?"

"I heard you and Hitsugaya talking about it on his birthday. You're just like everyone else here and you can't go around doing as you please as if it doesn't bother anyone!"

Minamoto covered her ears and ran away, dropping a box on the floor in front of me. It was wrapped with red wrapping paper—probably for Valentine's Day. But the things on her back caught my attention more than that. On her back was a pair of green and yellow tinted wings.

-----

**February 14****th****, Night**

I ate the chocolate. It looked nice, and was just a simple large square of chocolate.

She's really bad at cooking.

----

**March 1****st****/February 29****th****, Afternoon**

It was hard to find her, but I did. She was sitting on the roof of the Fourth Division building, the wings still on her back. When she saw me, she smiled and waved, looking tired. I climbed up there and sat next to her.

"Abarai Renji," She faced me, still smiling.

"Happy Birthday. I'm not going to sing it in English."

"Thanks."

"So I guess you really are a fairy now."

"The wings?"

"Yeah."

"They're holographic." Minamoto pulled her hand behind her back and pushed them through the wings. The image of them became fuzzy as her hand passed through it. "I got them because I'm leading a new squad in my division."

"A new squad?"

"Yup. It's sort of a relief squad for the people whose zanpakutos aren't built for fighting or healing. Right now, there's eleven people in my little squad running around Seireitei trying to help whoever they see. Most of them have a list of who needs help, but I have mine up here." She tapped her head.

"Ah," I nodded, not sure what to say. I tried to find her so I could apologize for what I said, but now it felt like I didn't need to. Or like she didn't want me to. But _damn_ she looked good in the light, sitting like that.

"You…don't have anything to do now?"

"Everyone who needs help is getting it, I checked."

I nodded again, looking her over. From the first day I saw her, she looked good. _Really_ good. Her green hair, her yellow-orange eyes, the arrogant matter-of-factly way she spoke, the way she'd disappear and come back.

Minamoto stood. "Well, I have to go. Nice talking to you."

She jumped off of the roof and ran away, her holographic wings fluttering.

It made me think of what Captain Unohana said that day about her being a human butterfly. She came, she went, and she was beautiful. Everywhere she goes she's appreciated. You can offend the butterfly, but it will always come back and flutter around you again. Because of how it is, it can't be caged, so there's no point in catching it.

That's what she is: A human butterfly. A fairy.

And as much as I want to, I'll never be able to catch her.

* * *

**Author: **Send me a message if something or some things don't make sense.


End file.
